Internet Law

Legal Materials

By Michael L. Rustad and Diane D’Angelo (1)

Subscription Databases

• Westlaw: Westlaw’s All-RPTS database contains all reported cases from courts in the European Union and other courts worldwide as selected by the editors. This commercial service includes decisions, judgments, and orders as reported by the courts. European Union Case Law (EU-CS) is another rich Westlaw database to use to research Internet law cases. In this database, the subscriber can perform a keyword field search for the word Internet, cyberlaw, or specific substantive topics.
• Lexis: Lexis’s databases include extensive foreign materials and databases of cases and statutes. To access these wide-ranging resources, the subscriber goes to Area of Law – By Topic, International Law, and Find Cases (View More). The user will find a number of resources for finding cases in many foreign jurisdictions.
• Foreign Law Guide: This database includes descriptions of the legal systems of nearly two hundred countries and jurisdictions. It highlights mostly legislative resources but does include information about court decisions. It makes available foreign law resources, including complete bibliographic citations to legislation. This service often notes the existence of English translations. It also evaluates how current the materials are and lists secondary sources translated into English (See generally Thomas Reynolds & Arturo Flores, FOREIGN LAW GUIDE, foreignlawguide.com/).

Free Resources on International Law

The “Open Source/Free/Cost-Effective Movement” (Hackerson) is not just a U.S. phenomenon, but also a global one. There are a number of free resources that will allow lawyers to access international and foreign Internet law resources. Some contain documents written in the official language of a particular country or jurisdiction, but for many, either the English translations or the databases and their documents are available primarily in English.

• Curia: The website of the European Court of Justice.
• FLARE – Foreign Law Research
• GlobaLex
• The Global Legal Information Network (GLIN)
• World LII: The World Legal Information Institute
• German Law Archive
• The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting (ICLP)
• EuroLex

Websites

• World Intellectual Property Organization: The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is dedicated to “developing a balanced and accessible international intellectual property (IP) system, which rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and contributes to economic development while safeguarding the public interest.”
• Council of Europe, Cybercrime: The Council of Europe “helps protect societies worldwide from the threat of cybercrime through the Convention on Cybercrime and its Protocol on Xenophobia and Racism, the Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY) and the Project on Cybercrime. It serves as a guideline for any country developing comprehensive national legislation against Cybercrime.” (coe.int/t/DGHL/cooperation/economiccrime/cybercrime/default_en.
  asp)
• Global Cyber Law Database: Global Cyber Law Database (GCLD) is a comprehensive source of cyber laws. It has detailed cyber law profiles for forty-eight countries and jurisdictions, and “aims to be the most comprehensive and authoritative source of cyber laws for all countries.” This site is a public initiative of the Asian School of Cyber Laws (cyberlawdb.com/main/).
• Computer Crime Research Center: The Computer Crime Research Center was created in 2001 to research the legal, criminal, and criminological problems of cybercrime. It is a non-profit, non-government organization, and its mission is to “research and warn of unlawful acts involving computer and information technologies, including computer crimes, Internet fraud, and cyber terrorism (crime-research.org).
• SCADPlus: Summaries of European Union Legislation
• Annual International Conference on Cyberlaw: This annual conference brings academics from all over the world and members of the judiciary together to exchange ideas and discuss recent cyberlaw topics. The conferences explore comparative approaches to intellectual property and discuss privacy, information technology and other late-breaking cyberlaw issues (cyberlaw-conference.org).

Treatises & Loose-Leafs

There are a number of treatises and loose-leafs that address international Internet law issues. A few noteworthy ones include: Online Service Providers: International Law & Regulation; Internet Jurisdiction and Choice of Law: Legal Practices in the EU, U.S. and China; Cross-border Internet Dispute Resolution; International Computer Law: A Practical Guide to the International Distribution and Protection of Software and Integrated Circuits; and Global Perspectives in Information Security: Legal, Social and International. See generally ONLINE SERVICE PROVIDERS: INTERNATIONAL LAW & REGULATION (Steven J. Barber & Christopher Gibson eds., 2003); FAYE FANGFEI WANG, INTERNET JURISDICTION AND CHOICE OF LAW: LEGAL PRACTICE IN THE EU, U.S. AND CHINA (2010); JULIA HÖRNLE, CROSS-BORDER INTERNET DISPUTE RESOLUTION (2009); J.A. KEUSTERMANS & I.M. ARCKENS, INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER LAW: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION AND PROTECTION OF SOFTWARE AND INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (1988); HOSSEIN BIDGOLI, GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES IN INFORMATION SECURITY: LEGAL, SOCIAL AND INTERNATIONAL (2009).

Law Reviews & Journals

Internet law is becoming less U.S.-centric and there are now extensive resources to chart foreign Internet case law and regulatory developments. Many more general international, computer, technology, and IP law reviews and journals now include comparative or foreign Internet-related articles. A few noteworthy specialized publications deal with international Internet legal developments on a regular basis. Among the best resources are: Computer Law Review International; Computer & Telecommunications Law Review (UK); Computer, Computer Law & Security Review (Netherlands); Competition and Regulation in Network Industries (Belgium); Electronic Business & Technology Law (New Zealand); Global Review of Cyberlaw; International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, and World Internet Law Report. See generally VERLAG O. SCHMIDT, COMPUTER LAW REVIEW INT’L (2003-2011); MICHELE T. RENNIE, COMPUTER & TELECOMMUNICATIONS LAW REVIEW (1988-2011); STEVE SAXY, THE COMPUTER LAW AND SECURITY REVIEW (2009-2011); MATTHIAS FINGER & ROLF KÃœNNEKE, JOURNAL OF COMPETITION & REGULATION IN NETWORK INDUSTRIES (2006-2011); ELECTRONIC BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY LAW (2011); DEN BOSCH, GLOBAL REVIEW OF CYBERLAW (2001-2011); INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF LAW, COMPUTERS & TECHNOLOGY (2011); WORLD INTERNET LAW REPORT (2011).

To locate more international law reviews and journals on Internet law, consult the Washington and Lee Law Journals Database (lawlib.wlu.edu/lj/). To access this International Internet resource, select the science, technology & computing subject area and then select non-US.

Sources of Internet Law and Practice framework for Developing New Law

Read, in this legal Encyclopedia, about the topic of this section, and, specially, about Context for Developing the Law of the Internet

Internet Law in Electronic Commerce

Internet Law in the Online Business Law

Internet Law and the Electronic Commerce

Internet Law in the Online Business Law

Resources

See Also

• PPC Advertising
• Social Networking
• Online Business Law
• Internet Law
• Spam
• Startups
• Internet Tax
• Crossborder Commerce
• Technology Law
• Terms of Use

Resources

See Also

• PPC Advertising
• Social Networking
• Online Business Law
• Internet Law
• Spam
• Startups
• Internet Tax
• Crossborder Commerce
• Technology Law
• Terms of Use

Resources

Notes

1. Based on the Article “The Path of Internet Law: An Annotated Guide to Legal Landmarks”, by Michael L. Rustad and Diane D’Angelo
2. Id.

In the United States

For information about Internet Law in the context of international trade, click here

Resources

See Also

Further Reading

• Information about Internet Law in the Encyclopedia of World Trade: from Ancient Times to the Present (Cynthia Clark Northrup)

Internet Law and the Laws of International Trade

Internet Law and Communication Law